


when the world is much brighter

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Series: adrien augreste 2020 [4]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien AUGreste 2020, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, Friendship, Gen, Living Together, Nonbinary Alya Césaire, Parent Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug), Past Abuse, Podfic Welcome, Post-Hawk Moth Defeat, Protective Nino Lahiffe, Underwear, alya always does, alya does, ambiguous future timeline, do they know about the developing relationship? debatable, do they know about the established relationship (that theyre in)? also debatable, financial abuse, kwami - Freeform, kwami angst in the background, look if canon doesnt gotta figure out its timeline then neither do i, post hawkmoth reveal, when do i ever write nino any other way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:00:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25718458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: "We did not think this through." Nino slumps against the bathroom wall, cradling his head in his hands. "We super, super did not think this through.  Like.  Dude."Across from him, crouched at the edge of their bathtub, Marinette tries to glare and fails as her gaze keeps darting to the door. "I noticed! I noticed, Nino, and I blame you.""I blame you, how could you not warn me he was gonna do this?"  Nino's only vaguely aware of the edge of the counter digging into his hip."He's a model, of course he's gonna do this!"  Marinette slumps, too, letting her head thunk back against the ceramic of the tub.  "I don't know if he's ever even heard of body shyness.  And Chat and I have had enough- look, I'm not surprised, it'll just take some adjusting.  But you!" She points at him accusingly, though it loses its edge from her position on the floor. "You've lived with Alya already.  You knew that they were gonna do this.  You could have told me there were gonna be two of them."(or, the team moves in together. the team swiftly learns they have differing opinions on how dressed is dressed enough while at home).
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Plagg, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Trixx, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Nino Lahiffe
Series: adrien augreste 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860751
Comments: 145
Kudos: 706





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> for the 'underwear' prompt for adrienaugreste 
> 
> technically i wrote this one twice and was way happier with this version, lol. this ones not beta'd, sorry!

"We did not think this through." Nino slumps against the bathroom wall, cradling his head in his hands. "We super, super did not think this through. Like. _Dude._ " 

Across from him, crouched at the edge of their bathtub, Marinette tries to glare and fails as her gaze keeps darting to the door. The hiss in her voice, however, is plenty impressive. She probably learned it from Plagg. Plagg probably made sure she learned it from him. Plagg's probably still a little disappointed that Adrien only ever brings out his own hiss if they're in a serious fight. "I noticed! I noticed, Nino, and I blame you."

"I blame _you,_ how could you not warn he he was gonna do this?" Nino's only vaguely aware of the edge of the counter digging into his hip. Their guest bathroom's not exactly small, but it's still not a comfortable space for two people to shout at each other in. 

Shout-whisper at each other. They don't shout around Adrien. Nino kinda prefers that they don't shout around _him_ , for that matter.

"He's a model, of course he's gonna do this!" Marinette slumps, too, sliding down to the fluffy red rug Adrien had insisted on getting and letting her head thunk back against the ceramic of the tub. "I don't know if he's ever even _heard_ of body shyness. And Chat and I have had enough- look, I'm not surprised, it'll just take some adjusting. But you!" She points at him accusingly, though it loses its edge from her position on the floor. "You've lived with Alya already. You knew that _they_ were gonna do this. You could have told me there were gonna be _two of them."_

"That's different," Nino protests, shifting until she's no longer pointing at him _._ "That's, I dunno, that's just Alya. I'm used to that!" 

"I'm _not!"_ Marinette's voice finally hits a pitch that probably has Adrien and Alya wondering, assuming Adrien and Alya aren't _already_ wondering why their partners have locked themselves in the guest bathroom together. 

It had been closest. Nino had kinda just yanked Marinette after him without taking any time to plan.

He probably should have at least tried to plan.

Nino and Alya had moved in with each other the month before, but they'd known it was a temporary situation from the start. The moment Adrien had finally managed to untangle his finances enough to buy a place (his dad is _such a dick,_ even, somehow, from prison), he'd immediately bought a place where they could all live together.

It has four bedrooms.

Which is probably more than they can afford, even together, even with Adrien insisting on paying for as much of it as they'll let him (even though he _seriously_ has to fight to get to any of the money that _he earned,_ and Nino's always gonna hate his friend's dad), but Adrien had wanted the place so badly that they'd all caved. They're on good enough terms with the team that they can see if any of them want to room with them too if they end up needing it.

Nino's money is on either Kagami or Luka, personally.

It had taken Nino a while to figure out why Adrien had thought they'd need four bedrooms at all, but he thinks that the team's probably a part of it. Nino's sure not complaining, the space is nice, but if none of their other teammates do join them then at least half those bedrooms are never going to see any use. Besides, Nino's not supposed to know about it, because no one is supposed to know about it, but Chat Noir and Ladybug have _for sure_ had a secret studio apartment since they were all still teenage superheroes. Nino's pretty sure the mayor had given it to them, because they definitely do not pay for it.

Present tense. In no way does he think they've given up their supposed-to-be-a-secret-bolthole. 

But he thinks they've always _liked_ that it's a studio. Chat Noir and Ladybug have been happiest in each other's space for a long time now, long before Adrien and Marinette were. If whatever reveal had eventually happened hadn't actually taken place _in_ that studio, he thinks that studio's still probably where they dealt with most of the fallout. Together. 

It's also been a long time since Nino could think of them _not_ being together. 

(Admittedly, part of that is probably just him. He's not a fan of thinking too hard about any of his friends splitting up. Mylene and Ivan are still best friends, their break up never seemed to suit being called that when it had been so chill, and even that had been harder for Nino to be around than he wants to admit).

The thing is, Adrien has spent a pretty disproportionate amount of time sleeping in other people's spare bedrooms himself. Or on their floors, or balconies, or roofs, or decks. Even before he'd ended up sorta-kinda- _maybe-_ but-we're-not- _sure_ adopted by the Gorilla, which mostly seemed to be a failsafe to keep him out of any other family member's hands (Nino's met Adrien's aunt and cousin exactly once and he would like to forget it), Adrien had already been spending a lot of nights away from home. 

Adrien had been spending a lot of time as Chat Noir, even then. It had taken him months to relax enough that he stopped spending most of his nights transformed. He's had harder habits to break, but most of the battle-induced ones are habits they all share anyway; Adrien's the only one who'd been transforming nearly on a reflex just to _sleep._

The extra rooms probably aren't for the four of them at all. They're probably not just for the space, either, although certainly no one is complaining about that. The only one it might have bothered is Adrien himself and the rest of them did not take long to make sure that all of their space feels lived in. 

Their apartment may be larger than they truly need, but they're all determined to make sure it feels nothing like the empty mansion Adrien grew up in. Marinette's reluctantly conceded partial control of the kitchen to Alya and Wayzz, and Tikki and Marinette have taken over one of those spare rooms with sewing projects, and Plagg and Nino himself have dedicated one to 'storage' (aka 'things we haven't and may never get around to unpacking'), and Nino's fairly certain that the one kitchen cabinet full of various imported teas has something to do with his own kwami too. 

Nino's at least used to living with Alya now. He's used to their tendency to saunter out of the bathroom with nothing for their modesty but a towel tied too loose, too small to be the toga they're trying to make it be. He's even used to the way they deliberately strike up lengthy conversations before ever going to find clothes, because they love to see him flushed and stammering the way he still can't help. 

He's less used to sharing space with all of their kwami. Wayzz and Trixx hadn't _stayed_ with them before, not like Plagg and Tikki have always done with Adrien and Marinette. It's a lot different than Nino had expected.

And Nino is way less prepared for living with Adrien than he'd thought he was.

Living with him _as_ Adrien, anyway. It's not like he hadn't spent nights with all of them as Chat, even back before any of them knew why. 

But he'd always stayed transformed then. He hadn't had a reason to change, not with his suit, which means Nino was totally and completely unprepared for the way Adrien frequently just. Just does not bother to get dressed until he has to. 

But.

But Nino still remembers going through Adrien's clothes together the week after his father had been caught. He remembers trying so hard to separate out all the Gabriel brand clothes, tossing them aside as Adrien handed them to him with gritted teeth and a suspicious sheen in his eyes. Nino remembers how close Plagg had hovered and how the Gorilla had stayed guarding the door like it was a habit he couldn't break.

Nino definitely remembers Adrien ending up with all of two shirts and a weak smile that failed to hide his distress.

A lot of Adrien's clothes now are ones Marinette's made, but they still all make sure to pick up things like cheap T-shirts for him whenever they can. They don't want him to end up with clothes all from one source ever again, even if that source _is_ Marinette, and Adrien's never been allowed to own things like the glow-in-the-dark Zelda shirts Alya brings back from conventions or the skirt Marinette made him or the jacket Nino won him at a faire. 

So... maybe Nino does understand why Adrien avoids getting dressed right away. Adrien always seems so happy not to have to worry about putting an outfit together first thing. 

And maybe if they buy him enough sets of pyjamas he'll start _wearing_ them more. 

Maybe not, with Alya's shining example. 

"Nino." Marinette moans, letting her head thunk against the tub again. "Nino, I'm not ready for this. I was never going to be ready for this." 

"Marinette," Nino returns in as close to the exact same tone as he can manage, gathering his straying thoughts only with some effort. "Dude, I thought I was straight up until _fighting Hawkmoth,_ remember? I feel like you've gotta be more ready for this than I am! Also, you are _literally dating him!_ " 

Marinette doesn't bother opening her eyes as she snorts. There's a calmness threading through her voice that wasn't there before as she says, "Alya'd started figuring things out dozens of battles before that, Nino, you were never as straight as you thought." She doesn't respond to the point about her dating Adrien. Fair, since Nino's kinda unclear on whether the two of them _know_ they're dating.

They live together and go on dates and are always falling asleep in each other's arms and they've been partners since they were all fourteen and therefore invincible and stupid about it. But he's not sure they know they're _dating_.

"Fine, okay, not the token straight dude I thought I was, we know this now!" Nino makes a frantic gesture towards the door, because he'd rather discuss his surprise teenage sexuality crisis than open the are-you-dating-or-not can of worms. Box of worms. Basement wine cellar full of worms, with a lovely explanation just behind this wall over here- whoa, off topic. He's letting himself lean into distractions too hard tonight. "But before that fight I thought I was just, I dunno, overprotective!"

"Nino." Marinette cracks both eyes open to give him an unimpressed look. "You _are_ overprotective. Like. Very. You are very overprotective, of literally all of us but Adrien especially. Adrien and Kagami both, actually. _Dude._ " 

Nino flushes and tries to look away, but immediately comes face to face with the bathroom mirror. 

He looks even more out of sorts than he feels. 

"Someone's gotta be," he mutters. "You know, _for real_ protective, I mean. Not- _that."_ Because the last thing Nino wants is for Adrien to think that Nino's ever gonna be _anything_ like his dad, or for Kagami to think he's gonna act anything like her mom. They've both got a whole wealth of issues built up around _for your own protection_ , and Nino is not _like that,_ Nino wants them to be happy more than he wants them to be safe. 

He'd like it if Adrien was safe _too_ but Nino's never gonna stop him from getting out and doing things. (Kagami is even more of a lost cause there. He still doesn't know where she got the motorcycle). 

It's been over two years since they'd finally won and they're still stumbling on odd experiences the three of them take for granted that Adrien's wholly unfamiliar with. 

They'd gone to see a puppet show in the park last week and he'd been entranced. The second show had been about their own fight with Hawkmoth and Alya had very quickly made up an excuse to leave, because Marinette had gone just as still as her partner that time, but for the first play Adrien had been just as enthralled as any of the kids around them who'd been watching their first ever puppet show.

"Hey kids." 

That's all the warning Plagg gives them before phasing into the bathroom to join them. 

This is, honestly, more warning than Plagg usually gives them. Nino's known for ages that Plagg's been a constant for Adrien since before Nino had ever even _met_ Adrien, but he still hadn't totally understood what that meant until after they'd moved in together. Plagg does not have a real great concept of privacy. 

It's very lucky for the rest of them that Wayzz and Tikki do. (Trixx does not, but Alya mostly finds that hilarious, so. Nino's kinda given up, it's just not a battle worth fighting). 

"Not that this isn't hilarious and all, because it definitely is, but you're starting to freak my kid out." Plagg gives them both a dark look, made no less intimidating by having gotten used to living with him, too. 

They'd noticed pretty quick that there's something _weird_ going on with the kwami. For one thing, it had taken entire weeks to convince them that they don't have to hide when they're at home. (Except for Plagg, who'd taken gleeful advantage of that fact from day one). For another, they don't seem to know what to do with themselves a lot of the time.

Sometimes the way they act reminds Nino kind of uncomfortably of Adrien.

Like they're not used to this level of freedom.

Like maybe they don't remember having it before.

"You're different than my chosen have been in centuries now," had been Wayzz's only explanation. 

"It's been a long time since we had partners like you," had been Tikki's. 

Trixx had whispered something in Alya's ear that set them both giggling and had the rest of them keeping a wary eye out for pranks for the next several days. Except for Adrien, anyway, who seemed almost disappointed when none manifested. Nino is still keeping a paranoid eye on that, because he doesn't know what a prank war between Alya and Adrien is going to be like except for distressingly terrifying, and he's even more afraid of when they inevitably team up against him and Marinette after.

Especially because unlike Tikki and Wayzz, Plagg and Trixx are definitely going to help.

Marinette might be the only official Guardian, even if she'd named Adrien one like the day after and only hadn't made it official because, as she says, 'at least one of us had better not be risking this many memories, do you realise how _many_ of our important memories are about each other,' but apparently the way she's recruited the rest of them to help is unusual. 

The way she's let all the kwami out of the Miracle Box at once to go stay with their preferred chosen is, apparently, pretty much unheard of.

Only Tikki, Plagg and Fluff had seemed unsurprised, and Fluff probably doesn't count. 

"Why's Adrien freaked out?" Nino asks Plagg, because he's got the good sense to know not to assume he always understands Adrien's reactions. He's not sure Adrien understands a lot of them. Plagg gets them a lot easier and a lot faster than any of the rest of them do, even now. 

But not always. 

"Not sure." Plagg shrugs himself higher into the air, hovering between Marinette and Nino's line of sight. " _He's_ not sure. He definitely knows you're in here talking about him, though, and that's gotta be hurting more than it's helping." 

Nino lets out a sigh that feels like it takes all his energy with it and raises his voice so it carries. "We're, uh, we were a little unprepared for _both_ the hot friends to not. Like. _Wear clothes_ with the rest of us." 

"Actually, if you're counting us kwami then most of us are naked," Plagg contributes helpfully, snickering at the dirty look Marinette gives him.

"None of you wear clothes in the first place, dude, you _don't_ count," Nino tells him, keeping his voice at a normal volume now. He gives Marinette a look of her own to try and get her to do the same. 

She sighs quietly, but she's not whispering either when she answers. "Also, last I checked none of us were dating any of our kwami." She shudders. "In fact, I feel so weird just saying that. So weird. You're all like, weird aunts ant uncles and Adrien's cat dad, I need Sass to erase the last like minute and a half." 

Plagg cackles. "Doesn't dating those two make it _more_ likely to see'em both in their underwear?" 

"It's not the _same thing-"_ Nino stops, eyeing Marinette, whose voice just broke as she said the same words as him. 

"Guys, you realise you can just ask me to put a shirt on, right? Alya, too, probably." A pause. "Maybe." 

Adrien's voice is right outside the room. 

Nino feels himself flush even worse. 

Marinette is flushing too, even as she clambers to her feet. Nino offers her a hand automatically, before he reaches over to swing the door open. 

Adrien blinks at him, hand raised to knock. 

Wearing nothing but his Ladybug boxers. 

Marinette makes a muffled noise into her hands and slumps right back against the tub.

Nino starts to shut the door again, but stops at the way Adrien's smile starts to falter. Nino had only been bluffing, he doesn't think he has it in him to shut a door in Adrien's face, but now he doesn't even want to pretend. 

Plagg darts out and swirls in swift circles around his chosen, before settling on Adrien's shoulder with a loud purr. 

Nino doesn't know where Wayzz or Tikki are right now, aside from 'somewhere in the apartment.' Trixx might be with Alya, or they might be inside the increasingly elaborate dollhouse Alya had bought them after the two of them had giggled for a minute straight at the idea. 

No, seriously, the amount of whispering and giggling those two get up to is. Worrying. It's worrying.

Nino had known for sure that Adrien was nearby the moment Plagg had shown himself, though.

The rest of their kwami are content knowing vaguely where their chosen are. Wayzz is even more hands off, probably because he switched partners during the worst of their fight against Hawkmoth. Plagg, in contrast, is downright clingy.

(Nooroo had been too, while he'd been with Plagg and Adrien, but that had been different. That had been something Nino still doesn't like to think about. 

He'd never thought before about their kwami having nightmares. At the time he wouldn't have thought that they could, which he's a little ashamed to realise now because of course they can. The kwami sleep and dream and have lived lives longer than Nino can really comprehend.

But Plagg's the worst of their four and his nightmares are always quiet. 

Nooroo's nightmares had not been quiet). 

"Asking. Right. Obvs. Okay," Nino says, voice strained. "But see, dude, we uh." He looks at Marinette for help, or at least some support. 

She's busy staring fixedly at the bathroom floor, but she must sense him looking to her, because she raises her head and mumbles something completely unintelligible. 

Thanks, Marinette. 

"What?" Adrien sounds lost, tilting his head in a way that echoes one of his ear flicks. It's strange, how easy it is to see Chat's body language in him these days. Nino's not sure how everyone hasn't figured out his identity by now. Ever since he'd gotten away from the mansion, all of Adrien's mannerisms have become obviously Chat's.

Because they would have been Adrien's mannerisms to begin with, if he'd ever felt like he could show them. 

Marinette mumbles again and Nino realises he's on his own. Sighing, he braces himself and mutters, "She said we don't, uh, we don't... actually... _want_ you to wear. Um. More clothes." Great, he feels so warm he doesn't think he can flush anymore. He's going to have secondary heatstroke.

"What?" Adrien blinks and tilts his head back, glancing between them in visible confusion. 

Marinette drops her head against her knees with a groan, inhales, and pulls herself to her feet. When she turns towards Adrien, she has that glint in her eyes that always makes Nino feel like he should be readying for battle, even now. 

"We _like_ seeing you in your- in- in your under- we like seeing you," Marinette explains tiredly, eyes flickering to Adrien's face and away and then back. Honestly, Nino's just impressed that she got that sentence out at all. "We, uh, I. It's. Hot. Um. In, in here, it's- I'm gonna. Go. Adjust the thermostat." 

Which is _easily_ the worst Nino's heard her since they were _fifteen._

He knew they were taking the relationship slow, now that they feel like they all have the time to do things like take their relationships slow, but this is not slow. This is glacial. This is, to use a word he generally avoids, ridiculous. This is cause for concern, considering he's spent a distressing amount of time trying figure out if they even know they're _in_ a relationship. 

Incredulously, Nino stares as Marinette scoots past him out of the bathroom and actually does head for the thermostat. 

"What?" Adrien sounds just as lost as ever. 

For maybe the first time Nino is honestly worried for said relationship. They've only all lived together for a week, though, and even if Nino himself were willing to let this slip by Alya will _not_ be. 

"You are dating!" Nino breaks and shouts after Marinette's retreating back, definitely not able to take anything else today. "You have _been dating!_ I'M PRETTY SURE HE KNOWS YOU THINK HE'S PRETTY, MARINETTE! MARINETTE! GET BACK HERE!" 

Distantly, he thinks he hears Alya and Trixx laughing. 

Alya and Trixx have very notably made no attempt to show up to help.

Nino pinches the bridge of his nose and turns back to Adrien. "Dude, it's not- We don't, like, _mind,_ we just weren't really ready. Seriously, it's not a complaint, it's just kind of a lot for us. Her. Marinette. It's a lot for Marinette, who had a crush on you for literally years before askin' you out, I don't think we- _Marinette_ was ready to see this, uh, _much_ of you this constantly."

He's awkwardly aware of just how many times over he's just given himself away. Luckily- maybe- for him, Adrien's just as oblivious as ever.

Plagg's laughing a lot more than he's purring now, and Nino is very definitely not imagining Alya's distant laughter now, but _Adrien's_ oblivious. 

He's also staring after Marinette, one hand splayed across his bare chest, his eyes lovestruck. "She thinks I'm pretty?" 

"You're-" Nino looks to Plagg for help and does not find any. The kwami's laughing so hard now Nino's shocked he hasn't fallen off Adrien's shoulder entirely. "You're dating. You have been dating. How do you not know these things?" 

Somewhere, Alya's laughter cuts off and resumes. Presumably so they can take a moment to breathe through it. 

"She thinks I'm pretty," Adrien breathes, clearly not having heard a word Nino said. 

Nino gives up and goes to find his own partner and kwami.

(Adrien and Alya both continue to wander the apartment in their underwear. Nino and Marinette do not have any more discussions about stopping them.

 _Encouraging_ them, later on, but definitely not stopping). 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for the banana split prompt for adrien augreste 2020 
> 
> theres. i swear theres a banana split in here. 
> 
> also this became like... largely about wayzz. whoops?

Wayzz has spent the last hundred years getting far more experience with the world than any of his fellow kwami. He's seen more of those last hundred years than any of them have. He's seen _more_ than most of them have, because it's been centuries since even Plagg and Tikki had _unbroken_ decades at a time. 

Their Miraculous are usually only deemed safe enough to keep in active rotation for a few short years at most, and no one's wanted Plagg out for even that long. 

Wayzz had realised quickly that Plagg is going to have those unbroken decades again at last. 

He thinks there might have been at least a chance, at the start, that Adrien would have given up Plagg if it was presented to him the way the monks always had- as the only way to ensure the safety of the world, as his sacred duty and the only way to keep his loved ones protected. Wayzz doesn't think Adrien would ever have recovered from it, though, even then. Plagg's magic had dug claws deep into the boy almost instantaneously, like the kwami of destruction had revelled too much in finally being partnered with someone so suited to him that he'd forgotten to keep any of his magic back. 

Wayzz doesn't know if that's what happened. Plagg doesn't _act_ like that's what happened. Adrien's magic definitely did entwine itself with Plagg's so thoroughly that there's no untangling the two _now,_ but that could have been Adrien just as much as it was Plagg. 

Most of the humans never do think about their own magic. Most of them seem to have forgotten that they _have_ it. 

Adrien is always going to be a Black Cat, even if Plagg is taken from him. Marinette is always going to be a Ladybug, because while Wayzz doesn't think Plagg did it on purpose Tikki _definitely did_ and Wayzz isn't sure anyone else has noticed yet. He's not even sure that's Plagg's realised what Tikki's done, too wrapped up in his own kid to care. 

But there _had_ been the slimmest chance, at the beginning, that Master Fu could have convinced Adrien. 

It was never a very large chance, and it shrank by the minute and then by the second, and Wayzz doubts it lasted more than a month or two at the most. 

And it would never have mattered, because Plagg won't give up Adrien. 

Plagg's decision had been immediate. Wayzz hasn't ever asked about their first meeting. Some kwami like to brag about the first time they meet their chosen, but Plagg has never been one of them. Plagg has always preferred to keep those meetings private. 

Adrien's the first one in a long time that wasn't both arranged far in advance and then closely supervised, so Wayzz isn't sure where it falls for Plagg. The cat kwami is proud enough of Adrien that he might _want_ to brag this time. 

Wayzz had paid enough attention to note all of this, especially once it had become clear that Master Fu's attention had been almost entirely on Marinette and Tikki instead. 

The temple monks had really not gotten through many lessons with Fu. That had been even more confirmation that he hadn't listened all that well even to the lessons that he'd _had._ Wayzz may have never cared for the oppressive supervision the temple monks had imposed, but he doesn't know that going from that directly to no supervision at all was ever the answer. 

Fu had known enough to tell Marinette how careful Plagg has to be with his power. He'd simultaneously seen nothing wrong with Plagg and Adrien running around with little to no oversight. Wayzz had tried to bring up once that it would be prudent to at least give the children _some_ explanations of their powers from the beginning, rather than leave everything to Plagg and Tikki and two _completely untrained children_ from the very start. 

(Stoneheart had given Wayzz some immediate and yet deeply unwanted vindication). 

Wayzz had... also not tried very _hard_ to convince Fu to train the new chosen, though.

He knows it's not as though Plagg and Tikki won't teach them themselves, Tikki especially, now that there's no one left to scold or stop them. 

He knows how hard it is to give up a chosen, especially one you've had since childhood, and Plagg and Tikki's chosen are better matches than Wayzz can remember ever having seen. 

And the temple had never liked for their chosen to _match_ them. 

So once he'd seen how fiercely attached Plagg had become, Wayzz had made a deliberate choice not to draw Fu's attention to Adrien. Wayzz already doesn't like the expressions he catches flitting across Tikki's face whenever Fu stresses the cost of an identity reveal to Marinette. 

No matter what she _says,_ Tikki's not going to go.

And Plagg has never been able to do what Tikki and Wayzz himself turn to, when they didn't want the monks to know that they didn't intend to listen to them. Tikki and Wayzz both know how to make themselves seem agreeable and approachable, how to pretend they've never been threats.

Plagg can't make himself appear agreeable. 

Plagg can't pretend he isn't a threat. 

Wayzz does not remind Fu of his responsibility to Adrien, because Wayzz does not know if Fu would listen to his kwami in this instance, or if he would listen to those long-ago monks and take away the Miraculous. 

And when Feast had returned and Fu finally did panic, he'd proved Wayzz's fears correct. 

For all Wayzz's frantic attempts at persuasion, it had taken the children themselves tracking Fu down and adamantly refusing to give up their responsibilities even without their powers to convince him. 

The thing is, Wayzz has been around for all of that, and active in the world for decades more besides. 

The thing is... 

Wayzz had somehow still not been prepared for _Nino._

Wayzz still feels a lingering, unwanted guilt sometimes over choosing Fu, because if Fu hadn't called up Feast, if the temple hadn't been swallowed up, if the monks had had their way ~~as they always did,~~ Wayzz would never have been allowed Fu. 

Wayzz had _wanted_ to choose Fu. The monks did not want their kwami bonded with anyone they _wanted_ to choose. There's a power in it, in finding and bonding with a human with compatible magic, a compatible soul, and the monks had never wanted that. They wanted the kwami's power, but they wanted that power _tamed,_ brought to heel and safely bounded by their Miraculous. 

They would _never_ have let Wayzz have Fu.

(They would never have left him have Nino). 

(They would have done almost _anything_ to keep Plagg from Adrien, Tikki from Marinette). 

Wayzz has never stopped feeling that unwanted guilt, but it's not much compared to the overwhelming relief he'd felt at the same time. With the temple monks gone he'd been free to go to his chosen. With the temple monks gone there'd been no one left to tell his chosen that they didn't want him near Wayzz- there's never been anyone to tell him why. 

Fu had not ever been a very good apprentice and he'd honestly been sort of a terrible monk. He'd resented the loss of his family far too much to settle down and listen to the temple's teachings, and Wayzz has never once blamed his chosen for that, because his chosen is right. He should not have been taken from his family. If they were going to take children away like that, they should have chosen children who needed to _get_ away- 

Like Adrien. 

There's another thing the monks hadn't done, hadn't taught Fu not to do. 

Fu had given Plagg a kid. 

Fu had given Plagg and Tikki both kids. 

Fu might well think he'd given creation and destruction _to_ kids, and that was bad enough, because those two are the most powerful of all the kwami and Plagg is widely considered the least stable (though he _isn't_ ), but he'd _given them kids.  
_

Plagg never wants to give up his chosen. Even when his chosen had been another's choice and not his own, Plagg isn't always willing to give them up, and Wayzz has seen the cat kwami fighting furiously to stay as his ring was torn from more than one finger. 

Plagg is _never_ going to give up a kid. 

Especially a child like Adrien, whose family is cold and distant and harsher than Adrien seems to realise, who turns to Plagg more and more until his kwami has become his closest family. Plagg is not going to give him up. 

Tikki's not going to give Marinette up. 

And- 

And Wayzz doesn't want to give Nino up, either. He'd never wanted to give up Fu, and he still hadn't, but it hadn't hurt in the same way that he already knows Nino will one day. 

And Wayzz is not... not used to this. They had never had the run of the temple. This shared apartment is the most space any of the kwami have had to share in longer than Wayzz can remember, and Wayzz has a memory that stretches back centuries. 

He may share this space with only Plagg and Tikki and Trixx and their respective chosen, but that's its own source of wonder. 

Marinette and Adrien had listened so closely when they'd finally pried how the bonds have always been supposed to work out of Tikki. 

They had not hesitated to match each kwami to their respective chosen after. They had not hesitated to _leave_ the kwami with their respective chosen. 

Even Pollen, though the bee's comb resides here, kept safe so that Pollen's chosen cannot transform. The children had agonised over that decision, but they'd been wise enough to include Pollen in it. It had been Pollen's own suggestion. 

She's granted her chosen her company. Her chosen will have to earn back her powers. 

Plagg and Tikki's chosen, however... 

Marinette giggles as Adrien sets down an elongated bowl, as he beams in a way that has Wayzz subconsciously looking for a flicking tail. The boy doesn't have his ears, and yet the sense that they're upright and directed towards Wayzz is just as strong as if he did. 

"I don't know," Wayzz says, hesitantly, as he looks down at the offering. The offered food. 

(It's hard to remember what these children do and do not know about their kind). 

Tikki peers out from Marinette's purse, where she's chosen to curl up inside the beautifully patterned fabric Marinette has lined it with just for her. 

Marinette's purse is Chat Noir black on the outside, highlighted with lines of neon green, and Ladybug spotted on the inside with extra fabric and padding to keep her kwami safe and comfortable. Marinette had smoothly worked in an inner pocket just for Tikki's cookies. 

Marinette's purse is designed around Tikki, and to some extent around Plagg and Adrien as well. 

The chosen fit so well. Plagg and Tikki's chosen fit them so much better than any one of them could have dreamed. 

Adrien and Marinette might actually be able to do what Plagg has spent several human lifetimes hoping one of his chosen would be able and willing to try. 

(Not just Plagg, but it's Plagg that never made the slightest attempt to hide it. The rest of them had learned how to appear humble in front of the monks; Plagg had never tried. Plagg has always been too full of frustrated anger and hurt to try, even if he'd ever thought he'd had a chance at being believed). 

"C'mon, little dude," Nino urges, sliding the bowl smoothly across the table. "Try it, Adrien's so freaking proud of it, I think this might be the first food my dude's ever managed to make himself." 

Alya and Marinette let out identical snorts. Marinette tries to hide hers; Alya does not. 

Adrien's flushing anyway, head tilted just enough that Plagg can easily brush his cheek from where he's taken up residence on his shoulder.

Plagg is purring. 

Wayzz had known, once, that Plagg could purr. Plagg is the black cat kwami, of course he can purr. 

But Plagg has been so angry for so long, trapped and furious and biting at the bars of a cage that's barely visible, inescapable _still,_ that Wayzz had forgotten that his friend could purr at all. 

_Adrien_ is purring, and Wayzz had certainly forgotten- 

No. He hadn't forgotten that part. There had been nothing to forget. 

He's never heard any of Plagg's chosen purr. 

Adrien is purring now and he doesn't seem to know he's doing it, and Marinette is wrapped in a heavy quilt against the cold as she leans close against her partner's side and fights a yawn, and Alya has Trixx buried in their hair and their eyes are bright and happy and _wild,_ and Nino has the home-made wooden shield Adrien and Marinette had made together for a convention slung comfortably over his back. 

They hadn't seemed surprised when Nino had stolen it for himself. 

It fits against Nino's back suspiciously well. 

Their chosen suit each other as much as they suit their kwami. 

Wayzz feels... 

He's not sure how to _define_ what he feels. 

He'd had considerably more freedom partnered with Master Fu than he would have had Feast never happened, and Fu had respected him more than the temple would have taught him to, but it had been nothing like this. Wayzz had listened silently to the children's plans to find an apartment together, and he'd noticed quickly that Alya and Nino had tried to get him to believe that they really _did_ mean it when they said he had the run of their apartment and anywhere else he wanted, and he logically should have expected that to carry over when they'd moved in with Plagg and Tikki's chosen children. 

Trixx had believed them from the start. 

Trixx is not always the best source for honesty. 

But they _had_ flitted around even the original apartment with an ease and confidence Wayzz still doesn't have himself, and their chosen had encouraged them rather than scolding them. Nino has never once pushed Wayzz to do anything he isn't comfortable with but he'd also told him, more than once, that he was free to wander as he wanted. 

The children haven't even bothered to set _bounds_ of any kind. Fu had never trapped Wayzz, but he had outlined boundaries. 

Wayzz had been uncertain, before, if the children knew that the lack of those boundaries meant that their kwami could all... leave. Except for the Miraculous themselves, which they'd have to return to, there's nothing truly stopping them from darting out the walls or windows and exploring the city to their heart's delight. Nothing save for their attachment to their chosen. 

Plagg opts to explore the city _with_ his chosen. 

So does Tikki, most of the time, and Trixx is evenly split, but for all that Plagg is the most comfortably settled into their new level of freedom he nearly always stays close to Adrien. 

Every time Wayzz thinks of how easily and thoughtlessly Fu had separated Plagg from his chosen, a chosen Plagg sometimes refers to as _his kid_ without apparently meaning to- 

Wayzz is physically ill at the thought of taking all that trust and love and shattering it in a moment. 

(Wayzz is physically ill at the thought of losing Nino, by now, but he doesn't like to think about that. 

He did not like losing Master Fu. It had _hurt_ to lose Master Fu, who'd been his for more than a century. 

It's been only months. Losing Nino... would hurt more). 

"Wayzz?" Nino says now, leaning over the table with a worried frown, uncaring that his elbow is on Alya's arm and his shoulder is wedged awkwardly against Marinette's blanket so that he can make eye contact with his kwami. "Hey, you don't have to try it if you don't wanna, you know. We've got other things- which you also don't have to try!" Nino tacks on, hastily. "Just, whatever you're comfortable with, dude." 

"It's almost all really good," Trixx pipes up, one ear flicking back. "They have so much food available now, Wayzz!" Trixx's eyes turn distant as a grin overtakes their face. "Alya found a cereal that's named after me." 

"It is not, Trixx." Alya reaches up and flicks playfully at their kwami's ear. Trixx doesn't bother to move; Alya doesn't bother to actually connect. "I keep telling you that's a coincidence." 

"I keep telling you there's no such thing." Trixx nestles down further into Alya's hair, reddish fur nearly disappearing. 

Alya reaches up again, but this time it's to run a finger down their kwami's back, eliciting a happy squeak and several trilling laughs. "Trixx, that cereal's mascot is a rabbit." 

"That just means Fluff got involved! I bet Alix made sure it got named after me." Trixx sniffs, pseudo- insulted, but their happy cackle a moment later makes them even harder to take seriously than usual. 

Wayzz is still rather caught up on how casually the little fox refers to Fluff's chosen. 

"There's also a cereal called Lucky Charms," Plagg says, a suspicious gleam in his eyes, and Marinette and Tikki both groan as Adrien starts laughing. 

Plagg takes their distraction as a chance to turn and stare intently at Wayzz, his expression unreadable. 

Wayzz takes the hint and spirals down to inspect the dish offered to him. He really should have done so sooner; Adrien's only dropped ice cream over a split banana, and a not-inconsiderable amount of it has melted. Still. 

Adrien is proud of it, and Wayzz does not want to make Plagg's chosen sad. He doesn't generally want to make anyone sad but upsetting Plagg's chosen- Plagg's kid, and Wayzz is not _sure_ but he thinks he's heard Plagg refer to Marinette the same way by now- while living with Plagg is definitely not a good idea. 

"It's good," Wayzz says, surprised, after Marinette nudges over an oddly tiny spoon for him to try the ice cream with. After that first hesitant bite, Wayzz angles better so that he can try scooping up some of the banana alongside some of the strawberry ice cream, and that's even better. 

"See, little dude?" Nino says softly, leaning back enough to give Wayzz space. "We'll figure out what kinda food'll help you recover fastest." 

Wayzz swallows around a lump that has nothing to do with the ice cream. 

"I feel like I should point out that a banana split is not the most _portable_ sort of recharge," Marinette points out, dryly. "Not that you're not welcome to one whenever you want, I'm just really not seeing Nino carrying banana splits around in his pockets." 

"He could still carry _bananas."_ Adrien's offence is just as obviously affected as Trixx's before. "And-" 

"Kitty." There's a warning tone in Marinette's voice that would make Wayzz cringe, if it weren't layered over so much teasing affection. "We've talked about this, astronaut ice cream is not _in any way_ a solution. Please, please stop trying to make it a solution." 

"My lady, _please-_ " 

"It's not gonna happen, minou." 

Nino is still watching Wayzz. Wayzz cannot watch him back. Part of him wants to, but part of him can't stop remembering Master Fu even now, how Fu had needed him in the beginning more than Nino ever has or will, how Wayzz had helped guide and teach his chosen when they'd been unable to find his family. 

To this day Wayzz doesn't know if Master Fu's family would have taken him back. He hopes they would have. Master Fu had spoken of them with such affection, and he'd never seemed to hold a grudge over having been sent away with the monks. Wayzz had always wanted to ask, but at first it was too raw and then it eventually became too far in the past, and all Wayzz can do now is regret never having asked after all. 

"It's good," Wayzz repeats, softer, for Nino only this time. "Thank you." 

Wayzz and Fu had settled quickly on wolfberries for Wayzz's recharge, having found bushes quickly even in the wilderness around the fallen temple, and had then simply never thought to change around what had originally been meant as a temporary solution. 

Wayzz's previous temple chosen had all elected to feed him whatever happened to be at hand. 

He's spent decades grateful that Master Fu had at least put more thought into it than that. 

Nino, however, had noticed over time that Wayzz has had trouble recovering his strength quite as fast as the other kwami. The guilt in his eyes when he'd asked Wayzz if it was due to him had been enough to compel Wayzz to explain. 

Wayzz doesn't know what his recharge is. 

Of all of them, only Plagg and Tikki have ever known for sure. No one had thought it was important for the rest of them to know. 

Adrien grins, bright and happy, and leans his chair back just enough to knock the refrigerator door open. Rolling her eyes, Marinette leans back in plenty of time to catch it before it can rebound on him. 

When he withdraws from the fridge and Marinette shuts the door again, she also takes one of Adrien's three new covered dishes from him before they set all three of them on the table. 

"So," Alya says, and there's a cackling undertone to their laugh that can only be Trixx's influence seeping through, the way Plagg's purr is rumbling through Adrien even now. "What do you wanna try next, Wayzz?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ambiguous future timeline detail: no, theyve not realised that the temples back, if i ever got deep into this storyline thats where itd be heading 
> 
> and if youre worried about them: nooroos with the gorilla, duusu is with anarka, literally none of them are sure these were good choices

**Author's Note:**

> title from ooh child by the five stairsteps, because i and a coworker started singing it at work yesterday to the deep confusion and concern of a third coworker and also because it fits so so well
> 
> also this brings me to a hundred works on ao3. holy crap.


End file.
